After a 31-year profession at San Jose Mineta International Airport, Aviation Director John Aitken hung up his wings in March and Mukesh “Mookie” Patel stepped in to usher in a brand new era on the airport.
Before coming to San Jose, Patel worked at airports in Austin, San Antonio, Denver and Kansas City. He also previously worked for Alaska Airlines and AvAirPros, where he managed the capital program budget for the international terminal constructing at San Francisco International Airport.
Q: What does an aviation director do?
A: It's a novel position within the City of San Jose. We operate under the quasi-governmental agency of the City of San Jose, however the airport is operated as an enterprise fund. The enterprise fund generates its own revenue and covers its expenses 100% itself. We receive federal grants that come from the airline tax and fund a few of our infrastructure. As Director of Aviation, my job is to steer a team of industry leaders, from airport operations and security to planning, developing and executing construction projects. I even have the fortune and joy of leading a team that handles all of our marketing and communications and content creation to advertise the airport in addition to the core functions of the airport, that are our facilities and maintenance group. I even have a small group of ninjas, as I prefer to call them, that’s our airport strategic support function that handles HR, IT and government affairs. I even have an excellent group of leaders which can be subject material experts and my job is to get out of the best way and allow them to do their job.
Q: How did you get into this field?
A: I used to be born within the UK, grew up in Leicestershire and took a visit to an airport maintenance base after I was in kindergarten. I've all the time been fascinated by aviation and graduated from Oklahoma State University, where my parents had emigrated after I was 12. Airport management was my thing. I got my pilot's license but I fell in love with how airports work and, more importantly, the large economic impact they’ve on our community.
Q: What are you most looking forward to on this recent role?
A: This is my first opportunity to steer the team. I've previously been a frontrunner on multiple teams in San Antonio, Austin and Denver, but as a frontrunner, you get to develop a vision, and I'm really excited to work with some pretty solid leaders who listen. And developing that vision is exclusive. There are well over 300 industrial airports across the country. We're in the highest 50. With that comes loads of responsibility because we have now to be certain that this airport handles about one million passengers every month. If something goes unsuitable, it's my responsibility to step in and help develop a response plan. I'm really excited to be within the South Bay Area as we get better from these economic challenges that we've experienced post-COVID.
Q: What is your vision for the airport?
A: When I took on this role, I didn't realize how difficult it was for us to get passenger numbers back up. Austin was one in every of the fastest-growing airports within the country post-pandemic. During my time there, the airport experienced nearly 38% growth. We still have 20% fewer passengers than we did pre-pandemic, so how we shape our future is actually critical. I learned loads of my leadership skills at Alaskan Airlines – a really conservatively run, fiscally disciplined airline. That's how I'll lead this team on the airport: We'll approach our spending correctly, make all of our decisions to generate essentially the most non-flight revenue possible, and we'll meet our customers' needs with experience. On that foundation, we're constructing a brand new capital plan for this airport that basically focuses on getting back to basics. A terminal expansion will not be needed, and even when that happens, we'll move forward with supporting projects, including relocating a cargo constructing, pouring recent pavement, and replacing and relocating a wastewater treatment plant. These supporting projects will allow us to construct Concourse C in time. But more importantly, while we wait for the recovery, we’re moving forward with an asset preservation plan. This asset preservation plan looks at Terminals A and B and the infrastructure that’s now beginning to age, and the whole lot behind the scenes from grease traps to sewer lines to rest room renovations. We wish to be certain we maintain our guest experience with some value-added improvements. This will take a while to develop.
Q: Passenger numbers are still below pre-pandemic levels. How are you working to get people back to the airport?
A: We go on the offensive when developing airline routes. We meet often with the airlines at industry roundtables, we travel internationally to fulfill with network planners and route planners, after which we make targeted trips to headquarters based totally on data we receive from our customers. We understand how much demand there may be for nonstop routes. If there's anything that's extremely complicated about this process, it's what we call airline economics. For these airlines, it's a game of very tight margins. It doesn't make sense to launch a $50 million jet right into a market of people that only fly to Philadelphia or JFK one to thrice a yr. All 16 seats within the first-class cabin need to be full, and airlines now require over 75% load factor for a path to be profitable. We are consistently promoting and trying to search out out what certain markets need and when the need to travel will return. When airlines reduce their offerings, fares go up, so our goal is all the time to have a powerful mixture of ultra-low cost domestic airlines and international airlines that provide international flights with one stopover in order that we are able to maintain competitive fares in our market.
Q: What are the most important challenges in your role?
A: My biggest challenge, after all, is getting passenger traffic back. We're surrounded by two other industrial airports within the Bay Area, so we have now to be certain we're partnering locally with sports teams and events and doing loads of outreach to be certain people know that SJC is here, it's an excellent facility, it's easy to make use of, and you’ll be able to get just about anywhere it’s worthwhile to go within the country.
MUKESH “MOOKIE” PATEL PROFILE
Organization: San Jose Mineta International Airport
Position: Director of Aviation
Old: 53
Place of birth: Where is Melton Mowbray, United Kingdom
residence: San Jose
Training: Bachelor of Science in Aviation Management from Oklahoma State University
FIVE THINGS ABOUT MUKESH “MOOKIE” PATEL
- He worked for Alaska Airlines for 10 years.
- His favorite band is Odesza.
- His dream vacation can be a visit to Thailand.
- He has visited 43 out of fifty states.
- He is a military father.
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